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The Lazy Girl’s Way to Lose Weight

Joe Cross

I’ve never been slim, let alone skinny, but since having children, I’ve put on more weight and it just doesn’t shift.

Part of the problem is that I often lack real motivation to do anything about it. Part of the problem is my severe lack of willpower around food that ought to be treats. I’ve tried diets in the past, and been quite successful with them initially, but in the end , I tire of all that counting, whether it be points, calories or anything else. I guess I’m lazy when it comes to keeping track of things like that.

I finally decided that I wanted to do something about it, and after hearing a radio interview with Joe Cross about the benefits of juicing, I decided to find out more. I read some information on his website and then asked on Facebook to see if anyone had any experience of juicing diets. A friends recommended Jason Vale’s books, so I looked into them, and read lots of info on his website.

The book gives a meal plan for each of these seven days (although, there are no “Meals”; instead you have 5 of the juices, smoothies, soups or salads included in the book). I made some changes, substituting one or two that I couldn’t have or couldn’t easily get the ingredients for, replacing them with another from the same section of the book, and once I got going, I replaced another two with duplicates, having tried them and struggled to swallow them, since I really didn’t like them.

The idea of this is that for seven days you don’t eat food, but have these juices, smoothies etc five times a day. Drinks are water, hot water with fresh lemon or fresh mint or herbal tea.

For the first four days, I had the worst headache I’ve had in a long time. It made it difficult for me to think. It drowned out everything else, and I suspect it was because I was suffering withdrawal from caffeine, of which I am used to drinking a lot. I cut it out cold turkey, and have since read the experiences of others who suggest cutting down for a few weeks first so it doesn’t hit as hard.

After four days, I was beginning to flag a bit, and tiring of cooking evening meals for the family that I didn’t get to eat. Most days though, I was not able to have all five of my juices, because I was just not hungry enough for them – I hadn’t realised how filling they would be. It would take me over an hour to finish drinking each one, and I just couldn’t manage five a day, after the first day. But by day four, I was lacking motivation to keep up with it, so on the morning of day five I weighed myself.

I had lost a whopping 12lbs in four days.

That gave me the motivation to struggle on for another day or two, but by then I’d had enough of the seven-day plan. I remembered that there was also a five-day plan, which was the same as the seven-day plan, but shorter. I decided to allow myself to move on to the next phase, which is to have juices and smoothies for two meals a day and a proper healthy meal for the third. The idea is to stick to this for at least five days a week, and have two rest days should you want them.

I didn’t do well at this part, I have to say. Food kept creeping back in at non-meal times, and two rest days became three, then four. And that wasn’t ideal.

And so today, I am going back to the starting block – four days of juicing and no food. Let’s start this again. The kicker is, after the headache had finally gone, I felt great, so I’m disappointed with myself for letting it slide. Must do better 🙂